Monday Okpebholo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been declared winner of the Edo State governorship election held on Saturday.
Okpebholo secured a total of 291,667 votes. His closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), garnered 247,655 votes.
Olumide Akpata, representing the Labour Party (LP), finished third, receiving a total of 22,763 votes.
Fourteen other candidates contested the seat but got less than the three frontline candidates.
“That Okpebholo Monday of APC having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” INEC’s Returning Officer for the poll, Prof Faruk Kuta, said at exactly 09:27 pm, to delightful cheers from APC supporters at the collation centre in Benin City, the state capital on Sunday.
Kuta, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, in Niger State, declared the winner of the poll after a series of recesses.
The votes come from a total of 2.2 million voters with permanent voter cards across the 18 Local Government Areas and 4,519 polling units in Edo State.
The APC candidate cleared over 10 of the 18 local government areas, leaving the PDP candidate with marginal victory in the other local councils. The APC gained control in two of the three battleground senatorial districts in the state.
Okpebholo, the Edo Central Senator, leveraged significant influence in his senatorial district, and joined forces with his colleague in the National Assembly from Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, to defeat Ighodalo, the anointed candidate of the outgoing governor.
Okpebholo’s victory could also be attributed to his alliance with Dennis Idahosa, his running mate who is a federal lawmaker; and Obaseki’s estranged deputy, Philip Shaibu.
The declaration on Sunday evening brings Okpebholo closer to achieving his goal of becoming governor of the state and places his party, the APC, on the cusp of a return to power at the Dennis Osadebe Government House.
The APC lost power in the state in 2020 after the incumbent, Godwin Obaseki, defected from the party to the PDP in the heat of an intra-party squabble and fallout with his predecessor, Oshiomhole. After he was denied the APC governorship ticket, Obaseki joined the PDP and clinched the ticket to defeat APC’s Osagie Ize-Iyamu to seal his second term which will end on November 12, 2024.
Obaseki campaigned strongly for Ighodalo, while Oshiomhole was a focal figure for Okpebholo’s campaign, attending rallies and interviews on behalf of the APC candidate.